William Frederick Leonard Saunders

William Frederick LeonardSaunders was born in 1890 in Wonersh, Surrey, England.1,2 He was the son of Charles WilliamSaunders and EdithMatlock. He was the son of Charles WilliamSaunders and EdithSaunders in the 1891 census in Blackheath, Surrey, England.3 He was the son of Charles WilliamSaunders and EdithSaunders in the 1901 census in Blackheath, Surrey, England.4 Len as he was known as a keen sportsman and Captained Blackheath Cricket team as well as playing in the gunpowder works team. He also played in the Blackheath Rovers football team. He sang in the church choir and Choral Society.5 Len enlisted in the army after walking to Stoughton Barracks with some other local boys. He was to join the Royal Engineers Signal Company. After some initial training in Chatham he was then moved to Aldershot to prepare for the regiments departure for France via Southampton and Le Havre.5 After 17 months on the Western Front, Len was taken ill and shipped back to England on a hospital train. He slowly recovered and was put on guard duty in Bedford.5,6 Sapper Leonard Saunders R E formerly a member of Wonersh Choir and Choral Society was awarded the Military Medal for 'great devotion to duty'. His Commanding Officer wrote to his mother explaining that he won the medal through the extraordinary tenacity with which he clung to his position after the trenches and the men who manned them had been battered out of existance. He was very pleased to report Leonard came out unscathed.7 Sapper Leonard Saunders RE promoted to rank of Lance Corporal.8 The Surrey Advertiser reported on 14 July 1917 that Lance Corporal W F Leonard Saunders had been awarded a bar to his Military Medal for distunguished services during the recent fighting.9,10 Len was finally discharged and returned to his family in Blackheath living at Wapentake, later known as Camelford.5 He married Evelyn MaryAttfield, daughter of ArthurAttfield and Elizabeth CharlotteFuller, on 3 June 1922 in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England, after the banns were read. The ceremony was witnessed by Frederick Walter White, Corona Lilian Atfield, Charles William Saunders, George Smee, Odling Smee and Arthur Atfield. William was a carpenter like his father Charles William Saunders.11,12 He served in the 5th Surrey Battalion of the Home Guard during WWII, he was a Signals Officer of E Company in Blackheath.5

Charles William Callingham

M, b. 4 June 1883, d. 4 November 1916

Reference

30791

Last Edited

6 May 2018

Charles WilliamCallingham was born on 4 June 1883 in Staines, Middlesex, England.1,2 He was the son of CharlesCallingham and SarahJacobs. He was the grandson of JohnCallingham and HarriettCallingham in the 1891 census in Blackheath, Surrey, England.3 He appeared in the household of JamesAttfield in the 1901 census in Blackheath, Surrey, England. William was a domestic gardener.4 William went to Canada at some time after 1901. The passenger list for the Canadian Pacific vessel Lake Champlain leaving Liverpool, bound for Montreal, on 21 July 1910 includes a 28 year old W Callingham, which might be William Charles.5 William enlisted in Toronto on 27 July 1915 into the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force having been declared fit on 23 July. He was 5 foot 7¾ inches tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes, dark hair and a scar behind his right ear. He stated his next of kin was his sister Mrs Ada Marshall 29 Lenton Street, St Thomas, Ontario. I have not been able to trace her.2 He died on 4 November 1916 in Somme, France, at age 33 from wounds received as reported by No 11 Canadian Field Ambulance. He was Private, 38th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment), 12 Infantry Brigade 4th Division. Army no. 135678.6,7,8 He was buried in Albert Communal Cemetery extension, Somme, France.6,5 He is remembered on Blackheath War Memorial. He also appears on plaque in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England.

Leonard George Edwards

M, b. 1894, d. 1 July 1916

Reference

30792

Last Edited

7 May 2018

Leonard GeorgeEdwards was born in 1894 in Wonersh, Surrey, England.1 He was the son of HenryEdwards and AnnElsley.2 He was baptised on 18 March 1895 in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England.3 He was the son of HenryEdwards and AnnEdwards in the 1901 census in Blackheath, Surrey, England.4 He was the son of HenryEdwards and AnnEdwards in the 1911 census in 16 Mitchell Cottages, Blackheath, Surrey, England. Leonard was a house boy.5 Leonard went to work at the Chilworth Gunpowder Works as a coal carting labourer.6 He enlisted into The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment as a private into the 7th battalion which was formed in Guildford in September 1914 as part of the Kitchener's New Army. Initially Leonard spent time training in Colchester and Salisbury Plain before embarkingfor Bologne on 27 July 1915. he immediately saw action across the Western Front.6 He died on 1 July 1916 in Somme, France, He was killed in action at the Battle for Albert on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, his Army number was G/1354. The British Army suffered its worst day of the war with over 19,000 killed and 35,000 wounded.7,8 Henry received £12 14s 10d war gratuity for his son Leonard on 18 October 1916 and a further £8 on 6 September 1919.9 He is remembered on pier and face 5D and 6D of the Thiepval Memorial.7 He is also remembered on Blackheath War Memorial. And again on plaque in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England.

Charles Basil Mortimer Hodgson

M, b. 25 September 1881, d. 1 April 1918

Reference

30799

Last Edited

29 Apr 2018

Charles Basil MortimerHodgson was born on 25 September 1881 in Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England.1,2 He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinAusten. Charles attended Castle House Preparatory School, Petersfield, Hampshire from 1891 to 1895 before moving to Eton College from 1895 to 1900, and he matriculated as a Commoner at Magdalen on 14 October 1901, having taken Responsions for the first time in Michaelmas Term 1900. He resat them in Michaelmas Term 1901 and then took the Preliminary Examination in Jurisprudence in Trinity Term 1902 and the rest of the First Public Examination in October 1902. He was awarded a 2nd in Modern History (Honours) in Trinity Term 1905 and he took his BA on 10 August 1905. After leaving Magdalen he became a Barrister of the Inner Temple. He also worked for Toynbee Hall.3 He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinHodgson in the 1891 census in Cottingley House, Kingston Vale, Surrey, England.4 Charles was admitted in to the Freedom of the city of London by Patrimony. He was a Vintner.2 Charles attended Eton and Magdalen College in Oxford.5 In July 1907 he was gazetted to the Special Reserve Battalion of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment; he was commissioned Second Lieutenant on 28 May 1906; Lieutenant 10 August 1908; Captain 1 October 1913; invalided home after being injured where he received a sprained ankle during the fighting and during his convalescence he spoke in various parts of the Country for the Parliamentary Recruitng Committee.6 He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinHodgson in the 1911 census in The Hallams, Wonersh, Surrey, England. Charles was a barrister at law.7 He married Mary AliceCarpenter, daughter of ArchbishopH WCarpenter, on 3 August 1911 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, Mary was the eldest daughter of Archdeacon Carpenter of Salisbury.8,3 Soon after the outbreak of war in August 1914, he joined his regiment at the front and took part in the battle of Aisne and the first battle of Ypres.5 In February 1915 he was appointed to the Staff of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force; he was made Deputy Judge Advocate General on 1915. He probably arrived on Imbros on 24 August 1915 where he worked for General Woodward, but he was admitted to hospital on the Dardanelles on 24 August 1915 and invalided to Alexandria with enteritis (Para- Typhoid) on 30 August 1915 where he was judged fit for light duties on 20 September 1915. He returned to duty at the HQ of the MEF on 10 October 1915 and was a GSO3 (Cypher Officer with the Western Frontier Force on 27 November 1915) from 20 November to 31 December 1915 (sent to Matruh with the WFF as GSO3 on 6 December 1915; Staff Captain 1 January-31 March 1916. GSO3 again on 1 April 1916. He was sent to England on leave from 28 May to 26 June 1916 and rejoined from England on 17 July 1916. On 26 February 1918 he was detached from the 3rd Battalion of the Queen’s Own Regiment and attached to the 2/24th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (The Queen’s), part of the 181st Brigade, in the 60th (2/2nd London) Division wef 1 March 1913 and served in the Western Frontier Force from 27 November 1915 to 9 March 1918. [Went to Salonika in November 1916 and to Egypt in January 1917].6 He died on 1 April 1918 in Naerich Schools Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, at age 36 He was a Captain in the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) and was awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme and Legion d'Honneur on 30 March 1917. He died from the wounds to his left foot, abdomen, pelvis and buttock. His brother Cyril died a few days earlier on 20 March.9,10 He was buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Al Qahirah, Cairo, Egypt, in plot O. 143. The stone is engraved 'In loving memory of my darling husband, rest in peace beloved.10,11' His estate was probated on 29 June 1918 in London to Mary Alice Hodgson his widow. His effects were valued at £7,125 8s 7d.9 He is also remembered on Blackheath War Memorial. Charles also appears on plaque in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England. Charles is remembered as a Casualty of WW1 in the Diocese of Salisbury Memorial Book for Salisbury Cathedral. The Battle Cross for Captain Charles Basil Mortimer Hodgson was located in Salisbury Cathedral next to his brother-in-law Lieutenant John Philip Morton Carpenter who died 15 September 1916.12 Her ashes were buried in plot X8. Charles and Cyril are mentioned on their mothers gravestone in Christ Church, Shamley Green, Surrey, England.11

Cyril Arthur Godwin Hodgson

M, b. 11 May 1883, d. 20 March 1918

Reference

30800

Last Edited

2 May 2018

Cyril Arthur GodwinHodgson was born on 11 May 1883 in Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England.1,2 He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinAusten. He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinHodgson in the 1891 census in Cottingley House, Kingston Vale, Surrey, England.3 He was the son of Charles DurrantHodgson and Emily GodwinHodgson in the 1901 census in The Hallams, Wonersh, Surrey, England.4 Cyril was educated at Home and then attended Eton to study and later Trinity College, Cambridge.2 He appeared in the 1911 census in Heksey, St Anne's Crescent, Lewes, Sussex, England. He was boarding with Laura J Banks a boarding house keeper and working as a Land Agents pupil.5 He trained for the Land Agency and passed his Surveyor's Institute examinations. He then worked in Lewes and later Dulverton. In the summer of 1914 the Duke of Wellington employed him on his Statfield Saye estate. He had first joined the Royal North Devon Yeomanry when working in the West Country but resigned his commission when he returned to Berkshire.2 On the outbreak of war he re-enlisted as a trooper, shortly afterwards receiving his commission. He saw service throughout the Gallipolli Campaign and in Egypt against the Senussi tribes and also did detailed survey work on the Sinai. Later he went to the front where he commanded a company and saw much fighting. He was recommended for the Military Cross by the Colonel for capturing machine guns and holding off seven counter attacks.2 He died on 20 March 1918 in Cairo, Egypt, at age 34 in hospital from malaria contracted in Palestine when he took part in the capture of Beersheba and Jerusalem. He was a Captain in the 1/1st Royal North Devon Yeomanry then formed into (Royal 1st Devon and Royal North Devon Yeomanry), The Devonshire, 229 Brigade, 74th Division and his home address was The Hallams in Shamley Green. His brother Charles died a few weeks later on1 April.6,7,8 He was buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Cairo, Egypt, in grave O. 135.9,8 His estate was probated on 5 July 1918 in London to Archibald Sanford Hodgson a land agent and Harry Moubray Merriman a stock broker. His effects were valued at £5,021 8s 10d.6 He is also remembered on Blackheath War Memorial. Cyril also appears on the plaque in St John the Baptist, Wonersh, Surrey, England. Her ashes were buried in plot X8. Charles and Cyril are mentioned on their mothers gravestone in Christ Church, Shamley Green, Surrey, England.8

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